Method for providing a content-sharing service, and a device therefor

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for providing contents-sharing services are provided. The method for providing contents-sharing services includes: receiving a contents-sharing request message for a contents sharer from a first contents reproducing apparatus of a contents sharing requester; transmitting a contents-sharing notify message generated using the received contents-sharing request message to a second contents reproducing apparatus of the contents sharer; and transmitting the received contents-sharing request message to a streaming server, wherein the transmitted contents-sharing request message requests the streaming server to transmit contents to the second contents reproducing apparatus of the contents sharer.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/865,314, filed on Jul. 29, 2010, which is a National Stageapplication under 35 U.S.C. §371 of PCT/KR2009/000372 filed on Jan. 23,2009, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 61/024,314, filed on Jan. 29, 2008, and U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/026,292, filed on Feb. 5, 2008, all the disclosuresof which are incorporated herein in their entireties by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate toa method of providing contents-sharing services, and more particularly,to a method and device for providing contents and contents-sharingservices, in which a contents-sharing requester and a contents sharersynchronize and share control during contents reproduction.

2. Description of the Related Art

Video On Demand (VOD) services relate to a bi-directional system capableof providing one or more remotely-located users with contents associatedwith movies, education, games, shopping, and the like that are stored inthe form of digital data via a communication network.

Recently, various demands of users to use VOD services have beenincreasing with the development of VOD services. For example, a user maywant to select contents as a gift for another user while reviewing alist of contents reproducible through VOD services, and to share thecontents with the other user.

Furthermore, a user may want to give contents as a gift to another userwhile watching the contents through VOD services, so as to share thecontents with the other user. In this case, the user may desire tosynchronize and share control associated with contents reproduction ofthe contents.

However, current VOD services are difficult to satisfy users'contents-sharing desires as described above.

SUMMARY

Aspects of one or more exemplary embodiments provide a contents sharingrequester and a contents sharer which synchronize and share contents andcontrol during contents reproduction, so that a contents-sharing demandof users who use Video On Demand (VOD) services can be satisfied and ausers' convenience can be increased.

Aspects of one or more exemplary embodiments also providecontents-sharing services for a contents sharer at the same timepersonalized services for the contents sharer and advertisement servicesare provided, so that an increased users' convenience and an improvedservice quality can be obtained when the contents-sharing services areprovided and used.

According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there is provided acontents-sharing service providing method performed in a managementserver, the contents-sharing service providing method including:receiving a contents-sharing request message for a contents sharer froma contents reproducing apparatus of a contents sharing requester;transmitting a contents-sharing notify message generated using thereceived contents-sharing request message to a contents reproducingapparatus of the contents sharer; and transmitting the receivedcontents-sharing request message to a streaming server, wherein thetransmitted contents-sharing request message requests the streamingserver to transmit contents to the second contents reproducing apparatusof the contents sharer.

The contents-sharing request message may include at least one ofcontents information, reproducing duration information, informationabout the contents-sharing requester, information about the contentssharer, and contents-sharing mode information.

The contents-sharing notify message may include at least one of contentsinformation, reproducing duration information, information about thecontents-sharing requester, and contents authority acquiring serverUniform Resource Locator (URL) information.

The contents-sharing notify message may further include at least one ofinformation to provide personalized services for the contents sharer andinformation to provide advertisement services.

At least one of the contents-sharing request message and thecontents-sharing notify message may be written in Extensible MarkupLanguage (XML) format.

The contents-sharing service providing method may further include:transmitting contents authority information of the contents sharer tothe contents reproducing apparatus of the contents sharer; andtransmitting the contents authority information to the streaming server.

According to an aspect of another exemplary embodiment, there isprovided a computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon aprogram for executing the contents-sharing service providing method.

According to an aspect of another exemplary embodiment, there isprovided a contents sharing method performed in a contents reproducingapparatus, the contents sharing method including: receiving acontents-sharing notify message from a management server; receivingcontents authority information of a contents sharer from a contentsauthority acquiring server by using location information of the contentsauthority acquiring server, wherein the location information is includedin the contents-sharing notify message; and transmitting acontents-sharing request message to a streaming server according toinformation included in the received contents-sharing notify message andthe received contents authority information, wherein thecontents-sharing request message requests the streaming server totransmit contents to the contents reproducing apparatus.

The contents-sharing notify message may include at least one of contentsinformation, reproducing duration information, information about thecontents-sharing requester, and contents authority acquiring server URLinformation.

The contents-sharing notify message may be written in XML format.

Contents may be received from the streaming server from a point in timewhen the contents-sharing requester performs reproduction, according toreproduction start time information included in the reproducing durationinformation.

The contents sharing method may further include: receiving a contentscontrol command from the streaming server; and controlling contentsreproduction by using the received contents control command.

According to an aspect of another exemplary embodiment, there isprovided a computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon aprogram for executing the contents sharing method.

According to an aspect of another exemplary embodiment, there isprovided a contents-sharing control method performed in a streamingserver, the contents-sharing control method including: receiving acontents-sharing request message from a management server; generating acontents-sharing table according to information included in the receivedcontents-sharing request message; receiving a contents control commandfrom a contents reproducing apparatus of a contents sharing requester;and selectively transmitting the contents control command to a contentsreproducing apparatus of a contents sharer according to the generatedcontents-sharing table.

The contents-sharing request message and the contents-sharing table mayinclude at least one of contents information, reproducing durationinformation, information about the contents-sharing requester,information about the contents sharer, and contents-sharing modeinformation.

The contents-sharing mode information may describe contents-controlcommands which are to be shared, in units of control commands or overallcontrol commands.

The transmitting of the contents control command may be performed if thecontents-sharing mode information allows transmission of the contentscontrol command.

The contents-sharing control method may further include receivingcontents authority information from a contents authority acquiringserver.

According to an aspect of another exemplary embodiment, there isprovided a computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon aprogram for executing the contents-sharing control method.

According to an aspect of another exemplary embodiment, there isprovided a management server including: a contents-sharing requestmessage reception unit which receives a contents-sharing request messagefor a contents sharer from a contents reproducing apparatus of acontents sharing requester; a contents reproducing apparatus interfaceunit which transmits a contents-sharing notify message generated usingthe received contents-sharing request message to a contents reproducingapparatus of the contents sharer; and a streaming server interface unitwhich transmits the received contents-sharing request message to astreaming server, wherein the transmitted contents-sharing requestmessage requests the streaming server to transmit contents to the secondcontents reproducing apparatus of the contents sharer.

According to an aspect of another exemplary embodiment, there isprovided a contents reproducing apparatus including a management serverinterface unit which receives a contents-sharing notify message from amanagement server; a contents authority acquiring server interface unitwhich receives contents authority information of a contents sharer froma contents authority acquiring server according to location informationof the contents authority acquiring server included in the receivedcontents-sharing notify message; and a contents reception unit whichtransmits a contents-sharing request message to a streaming serveraccording to information included in the received contents-sharingnotify message and the received contents authority information, whereinthe contents-sharing request message requests the streaming server totransmit contents to the contents reproducing apparatus.

According to an aspect of another exemplary embodiment, there isprovided a streaming server including: a management server interfaceunit which receives a contents-sharing request message from a managementserver; a table generation unit which generates a contents-sharing tableaccording to information included in the received contents-sharingrequest message; a control command reception unit which receives acontents control command from a contents reproducing apparatus of acontents sharing requester; and a control command transmission unitwhich selectively transmits the received contents control command to acontents reproducing apparatus of a contents sharer according to thegenerated contents-sharing table.

According to an aspect of another exemplary embodiment, there isprovided a contents sharing method performed in a contents reproducingapparatus, the contents sharing method including: receiving acontents-sharing notify message from a management server; transmitting acontents-sharing request message to a streaming server according toinformation included in the received contents-sharing notify message,wherein the contents-sharing request message requests the streamingserver to transmit contents to the contents reproducing apparatus, andwherein a contents reproducing requesting apparatus, distinct from thecontents reproducing apparatus, requests the transmitting of thecontents to the contents reproducing apparatus.

According to an aspect of another exemplary embodiment, there isprovided a contents sharing service method including: transmitting, froma first contents reproducing apparatus to a management server, acontents-sharing request message requesting transmission of contents toa second contents reproducing apparatus, different from the firstcontents reproducing apparatus; generating, by the management server, acontents-sharing notify message according to the contents-sharingrequest message; transmitting, from the management server to the secondcontents reproducing apparatus, the generated contents-sharing notifymessage; transmitting, from the second contents reproducing apparatus toa streaming server, a request for the contents according to thecontents-sharing notify message; transmitting, from the streaming serverto the first contents reproducing apparatus and the second contentsreproducing apparatus, the contents according to the request, whereinthe streaming server controls a synchronizing and control sharing of areproduction of the contents between the first contents reproducingapparatus and the second contents reproducing apparatus.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and/or other aspects will become more apparent from thefollowing description of exemplary embodiments with reference to theattached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a contents-sharing service according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates a contents-sharing request message format accordingto an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 3 illustrates a contents-sharing notify message format according toan exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 4 illustrates a contents-sharing table according to an exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a contents-sharing service providing methodperformed by a management server, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a contents sharing method performed by acontents reproducing apparatus of a contents sharer, according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a contents-sharing control method performed bya streaming server, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a structure of a management server forproviding contents-sharing services, according to an exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a structure of a contents reproducingapparatus that shares contents, according to an exemplary embodiment;and

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a structure of a streaming server thatcontrols contents-sharing, according to an exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments will be described in detail withreference to the attached drawings. Like reference numerals in thedrawings denote like elements. In the drawings, the sizes of componentsare exaggerated for clarity. Expressions such as “at least one of,” whenpreceding a list of elements, modify the entire list of elements and donot modify the individual elements of the list.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a contents-sharing service according to anexemplary embodiment. Referring to FIG. 1, the contents-sharing serviceincludes a management server 130, a streaming server 140, a contentsreproducing apparatus 120 of a sharing requester 110, and a contentsreproducing apparatus 160 of a sharer 150, which exist on a network.

The management server 130 controls the streaming server 140 and thecontents reproducing apparatus 160 of the sharer 150 to provide thecontents-sharing service. The streaming server 140 is a server thatprovides contents (e.g., a digital broadcasting program) in real time.An operation of the contents-sharing service will now be described.

While reproducing the contents provided by the streaming server 140 inoperation 181, the sharing requester 110 desires to share the reproducedcontents with the sharer 150. The contents reproducing apparatus 120 ofthe sharing requester 110 transmits a contents-sharing request messageto the management server 130, in operation 182. The contents-sharingrequest message includes at least one of contents information,reproducing duration information, contents-sharing requesterinformation, contents sharer information, contents-sharing modeinformation, etc.

The management server 130 generates a contents-sharing notify messageincluding at least one of the pieces of information included in thecontents-sharing request message received from the contents reproducingapparatus 120 of the sharing requester 110, and transmits thecontents-sharing notify message to the contents reproducing apparatus160 of the sharer 150 in operation 183. The contents reproducingapparatus 160 of the sharer 150 may be notified that contents (forexample, as a gift) have arrived from the management server 130, byreceiving the contents-sharing notify message. The contents-sharingnotify message includes at least one of the contents information, thereproducing duration information, the contents-sharing requesterinformation, authority acquiring server location information (such asUniform Resource Locator (URL) information), etc.

The contents reproducing apparatus 160 of the sharer 150 requests acontents authority acquiring server for information about authority toreceive or reproduce the contents (hereinafter, referred to as contentsauthority information) by using the contents authority acquiring serverlocation information included in the contents-sharing notify message.Accordingly, the contents reproducing apparatus 160 of the sharer 150acquires the contents authority information from the contents authorityacquiring server, in operation 184. The contents authority acquiringserver transmits the contents authority information to the streamingserver 140, in operation 185. The management server 130 transmits thecontents-sharing request message for the sharer 150 to the streamingserver 140. It is understood that the contents authority acquiringserver may be the same as or different from the management server 130according to various exemplary embodiments.

The contents reproducing apparatus 160 of the sharer 150 requests thestreaming server 140 to transmit contents from a point in time when thesharing requester 110 performs reproduction, by using the informationincluded in the contents-sharing notify message and the contentsauthority information, in operation 186. The streaming server 140 checksthe authority of the sharer 150 to receive or reproduce the contents andthe contents reproduction point in time, and transmits the contents tothe contents reproducing apparatus 160 of the sharer 150 from the pointin time when the sharing requester 110 performs reproduction, inoperation 187.

Thereafter, when the sharing requester 110 transmits a control command,such as reproduction stoppage or the like, to the streaming server 140during contents reproduction, the streaming server 140 determineswhether the received control command is allowed by referring to thecontents-sharing mode information included in the contents-sharingrequest message. For example, the streaming server 140 may generate acontents-sharing table including the contents-sharing mode informationand may refer to the contents-sharing table when determining whether thereceived control command is to be transmitted. Generation and managementof the contents-sharing table according to an exemplary embodiment willbe described in detail later with reference to FIG. 4.

When it is determined from the contents-sharing mode information thatthe control command from the sharing requester 110 is allowed, thestreaming server 140 synchronizes and shares control during contentsreproduction by transmitting the control command to the contentsreproducing apparatus 160 of the sharer 150.

According to an exemplary embodiment, a contents sharing requester 110and a contents sharer 150 may synchronize and share contents controlduring contents reproduction, so that a contents-sharing demand of userswho use Video On Demand (VOD) services can be satisfied and the users'convenience can be increased.

Furthermore, according to an exemplary embodiment, the management server130 updates the contents-sharing notify message by using informationused to provide personalized services for a contents sharer andadvertisement services, and transmits the updated contents-sharingnotify message to the contents reproducing apparatus 160 of the sharer150. In response to the updated contents-sharing notify message, thecontents reproducing apparatus 160 of the sharer 150 may receivepersonalized services and advertisement services by using theabove-described information used to provide personalized services andadvertisement services, before reproducing contents.

Moreover, according to an exemplary embodiment, the contents-sharingservice for the contents sharer 150 may be provided together withpersonalized services for the contents sharer 150 and advertisementservices, so that increased users' convenience and an improved servicequality can be obtained when the contents-sharing services are providedand used.

FIG. 2 illustrates a format of a contents-sharing request message,according to an exemplary embodiment. In the present exemplaryembodiment, the contents-sharing request message is transmitted from acontents reproducing apparatus 120 of a sharing requester 110 to amanagement server 130 in order to request contents sharing with thecontents sharer 150. The contents-sharing request message is alsotransmitted from the management server 130 to a streaming server 140 sothat the streaming server 140 may generate and manage thecontents-sharing table.

Referring to FIG. 2, the contents-sharing request message includescontents information, reproducing duration information, contents-sharingrequester information, contents sharer information, and contents-sharingmode information. Although the contents-sharing request message iswritten in the eXtensible MarkupLanguage (XML) format in the presentexemplary embodiment, it is understood that the contents-sharing requestmessage may be written in another format according to another exemplaryembodiment. In the present exemplary embodiment, a protocol such as realtime streaming protocol (RTSP), hyper text transfer protocol (HTTP),etc., may be used to transmit the contents-sharing request message.

As shown in FIG. 2, the contents information includes a contents title.The reproducing duration information includes information about anoverall contents reproduction duration and information about a point intime when the contents-sharing requester 110 performs reproduction. Thecontents-sharing requester information and the contents sharerinformation include an identifier (ID) of the contents-sharing requester110 and an ID of the sharer 150, respectively. The contents-sharing modeinformation includes an ID of a person who transmits a control commandduring contents reproduction, an ID of a person who receives the controlcommand, and control mode information.

FIG. 3 illustrates a format of a contents-sharing notify message,according to an exemplary embodiment. In the present exemplaryembodiment, the contents-sharing notify message is transmitted from amanagement server 130 to a contents reproducing apparatus 160 of asharer 150 in order to notify that contents (for example, as a gift)have arrived from a sharing requester 110.

Referring to FIG. 3, the contents-sharing notify message includescontents information, reproducing duration information, contents-sharingrequester information, and contents authority acquiring server URLinformation. Although the contents-sharing notify message is written inthe XML format in the present exemplary embodiment, it is understoodthat the contents-sharing notify message may be written in anotherformat according to another exemplary embodiment. In the presentexemplary embodiment, a protocol such as RTSP, HTTP, etc., may be usedto transmit the contents-sharing notify message.

As shown in FIG. 3, the contents information includes a contents title.The reproducing duration information includes information about anoverall contents reproduction duration and information about a point intime when the contents-sharing requester 110 performs reproduction. Thecontents-sharing requester information includes an ID of thecontents-sharing requester 110.

The contents authority acquiring server URL information provides URLinformation of a contents authority acquiring server that can berequested by the contents reproducing apparatus 160 of the sharer 150for authority to reproduce or receive the contents that may beprotected, for example, by Digital Rights Management (DRM). The contentsreproducing apparatus 160 of the sharer 150 requests the contentsauthority acquiring server for information about the authority toreceive or reproduce the contents and acquires the contents authorityinformation from the contents authority acquiring server. The contentsauthority information generated by the contents authority acquiringserver is also transmitted to the streaming server 140. It is understoodthat the contents authority acquiring server may be the same as ordifferent from the management server 130 in various exemplaryembodiments.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the management server 130 mayupdate the contents-sharing notify message by using information used toprovide personalized services for the contents sharer and advertisementservices, and may transmit the updated contents-sharing notify messageto the contents reproducing apparatus 160 of the sharer 150. Theinformation used to provide personalized services for the contentssharer and advertisement services may be URL information of a serverthat provides services. In response to the updated contents-sharingnotify message, the contents reproducing apparatus 160 of the sharer 150may receive advertisement services from advertisement sites specified asa URL, before or during the reproducing of the contents.

FIG. 4 illustrates a contents-sharing table according to an exemplaryembodiment. In the present exemplary embodiment, the contents-sharingtable is generated and operated by a streaming server 140. The streamingserver 140 receives a contents-sharing request message from a managementserver 130 and generates the contents-sharing table by referring toinformation included in the contents-sharing request message.

Referring to FIG. 4, the contents-sharing table includes informationabout an Internet protocol (IP) and an ID of a sharing requester 110,information about an IP and an ID of a sharer 150, contents-sharing modeinformation, and reproduction start time information. Thecontents-sharing mode information describes contents-control commandswhich are to be shared, in units of control commands or overall controlcommands.

When a contents reproducing apparatus 120 of the sharing requester 110transmits a control command, such as a reproduction stoppage or thelike, to the streaming server 140 during contents reproduction, thestreaming server 140 determines whether the control command is allowedby referring to the contents-sharing table. When it is determined fromthe contents-sharing mode information included in the contents-sharingtable that the control command from the contents reproducing apparatus120 of the sharing requester 110 is allowed, the streaming server 140transmits the control command to a contents reproducing apparatus 160 ofthe sharer 150 to synchronize and share the control during contentsreproduction.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a contents-sharing service providing methodperformed by a management server 130, according to an exemplaryembodiment. Referring to FIG. 5, in operation 510, the management server130 receives a contents-sharing request message for a contents sharer150 from a contents reproducing apparatus 120 of a sharing requester110. The contents-sharing request message includes at least one ofcontents information, reproducing duration information, contents-sharingrequester information, contents sharer information, contents-sharingmode information, etc.

In operation 520, the management server 130 transmits a contents-sharingnotify message to a contents reproducing apparatus 160 of the contentssharer 150. The contents-sharing notify message includes at least one ofcontents information, reproducing duration information, contents-sharingrequester information, contents authority acquiring server URLinformation, etc. Thereafter, the contents reproducing apparatus 160 ofthe contents sharer 150 may request a contents authority acquiringserver for contents authority information by using the contentsauthority acquiring server URL information included in thecontents-sharing notify message.

In operation 530, the management server 130 transmits thecontents-sharing request message to a streaming server 140 so that thestreaming server 140 may generate a contents-sharing table. The contentsauthority acquiring server may also transmit the contents authorityinformation transmitted to the contents reproducing apparatus 160 of thecontents sharer 150 to the streaming server 140.

It is understood that the contents authority acquiring server may be thesame as or different from the management server 130 in various exemplaryembodiments.

According to another exemplary embodiment, the management server 130 mayupdate the contents-sharing notify message by using information used toprovide personalized services for the contents sharer and advertisementservices, and may transmit the updated contents-sharing notify messageto the contents reproducing apparatus 160 of the sharer 150. Theinformation used to provide personalized services for the contentssharer and advertisement services may be URL information of a serverthat provides services.

While the contents-sharing request message and the contents-sharingnotify message are written in XML format in the present exemplaryembodiment and are transmitted using a protocol such as RTSP, HTTP,etc., it is understood that the messages may be written in any otherformat and transmitted using any other protocol according to variousexemplary embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a contents sharing method performed by acontents reproducing apparatus 160 of a contents sharer 150, accordingto an exemplary embodiment. Referring to FIG. 6, in operation 610, thecontents reproducing apparatus 160 of the sharer 150 receives thecontents-sharing notify message from a management server 130. Thecontents-sharing notify message includes at least one of contentsinformation, reproducing duration information, contents-sharingrequester information, contents authority acquiring server URLinformation, etc.

In operation 620, the contents reproducing apparatus 160 of the sharer150 receives contents authority information for the sharer 150 from acontents authority acquiring server by using the contents authorityacquiring server URL information included in the contents-sharing notifymessage.

In operation 630, the contents reproducing apparatus 160 of the sharer150 transmits a contents-sharing request message to a streaming server140 by using information included in the contents-sharing notify messageand the contents authority information. The contents reproducingapparatus 160 of the sharer 150 may receive contents from the streamingserver 140 from the point in time when a contents-sharing requester 110performs reproduction, by using the reproduction start time informationincluded in the contents-sharing notify message.

Thereafter, when the sharing requester 110 transmits a control command,such as reproduction stoppage or the like, to the streaming server 140during contents reproduction, the streaming server 140 determineswhether the received control command is allowed, by referring to acontents-sharing table. The streaming server 140 generates thecontents-sharing table including contents-sharing mode information andrefers to the contents-sharing table when determining whether thereceived control command is to be transmitted.

When it is determined from the contents-sharing mode information thatthe control command from the sharing requester 110 is allowed, thestreaming server 140 transmits the control command to the contentsreproducing apparatus 160 of the sharer 150.

The contents reproducing apparatus 160 of the sharer 150 receives thecontents control command from the streaming server 140 and controlscontents reproduction by using the contents control command.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a contents-sharing control method performed bya streaming server 140, according to an exemplary embodiment. Referringto FIG. 7, in operation 710, the streaming server 140 receives acontents-sharing request message from a management server 130. Thestreaming server 140 also receives contents authority information from acontents authority acquiring server.

In operation 720, the streaming server 140 generates a contents-sharingtable by using information included in the contents-sharing requestmessage. The contents-sharing table includes information about an IP andan ID of a sharing requester 110 and/or 120, information about an IP andan ID of a sharer 150 and/or 160, contents-sharing mode information, andreproduction start time information. The contents-sharing modeinformation describes contents-control commands which are to be shared,in units of control commands or overall control commands.

In operation 730, the streaming server 140 receives a contents controlcommand from a contents reproducing apparatus 120 of the contentssharing requester 110.

In operation 740, the streaming server 140 determines whether thecontents-sharing mode information allows transmission of the contentscontrol command. If the contents-sharing mode information allowstransmission of the contents control command, the method proceeds tooperation 750. Otherwise, the method proceeds to operation 760.

In operation 750, the streaming server 140 transmits the contentscontrol command to a contents reproducing apparatus 160 of the contentssharer 150.

In operation 760, the streaming server 140 discards the contents controlcommand.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a structure of a management server 130 forproviding contents-sharing services, according to an exemplaryembodiment. Referring to FIG. 8, the management server 130 includes acontents-sharing request message reception unit 810, a contentsreproducing apparatus interface unit 820, and a streaming serverinterface unit 830.

The contents-sharing request message reception unit 810 receives acontents-sharing request message for a contents sharer 150 from acontents reproducing apparatus 120 of a sharing requester 110.

The contents reproducing apparatus interface unit 820 transmits acontents-sharing notify message to a contents reproducing apparatus 160of the contents sharer 150.

If a management server and a contents authority acquiring server are thesame, the contents reproducing apparatus interface unit 820 may transmitcontents authority information for the contents sharer 150 to thecontents reproducing apparatus 160.

The streaming server interface unit 830 transmits the contents-sharingrequest message to a streaming server 140. If the management server andthe contents authority acquiring server are the same, the streamingserver interface unit 830 may transmit the contents authorityinformation for the contents sharer 150 to the streaming server 140.

It is understood that the contents authority acquiring server may be thesame as or different from the management server 130 in various exemplaryembodiments.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a structure of a contents reproducingapparatus 900 that shares contents, according to an exemplaryembodiment. Referring to FIG. 9, the contents reproducing apparatus 900includes a management server interface unit 910, a contents receptionunit 920, a control command reception unit 930, and a control unit 940.

The management server interface unit 910 receives a contents-sharingnotify message from a management server 130.

A contents authority acquiring server interface unit 970 receivescontents authority information of a contents sharer 150 from a contentsauthority acquiring server by using contents authority acquiring serverURL information included in the contents-sharing notify message receivedby the management server interface unit 910.

The contents reception unit 920 transmits a contents-sharing requestmessage to a streaming server 140 by using information included in thecontents-sharing notify message and the contents authority information.The contents-sharing notify message includes at least one of contentsinformation, reproducing duration information, contents-sharingrequester information, the contents authority acquiring server URLinformation, etc. The contents reception unit 920 receives contents fromthe streaming server 140 from a point in time when a contents sharingrequester 110 performs reproduction, by using reproduction start timeinformation included in the reproducing duration information.

The control command reception unit 930 receives a contents controlcommand from the streaming server 140.

The control unit 940 controls contents reproduction by using thereceived contents control command.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a structure of a streaming server 140 thatcontrols contents-sharing, according to an exemplary embodiment.Referring to FIG. 10, the streaming server 140 includes a managementserver interface unit 1010, a table generation unit 1020, a controlcommand reception unit 1030, and a control command transmission unit1040.

The management server interface unit 1010 receives a contents-sharingrequest message from a management server 130. If the management server130 is the same as a contents authority acquiring server, the managementserver interface unit 1010 may receive contents authority information ofa contents sharer 150 from the management server 130. It is understoodthat the contents authority acquiring server may be the same as ordifferent from the management server 130 in various exemplaryembodiments.

The table generation unit 1020 generates a contents-sharing table byusing information included in the contents-sharing request message.

The control command reception unit 1030 receives a contents controlcommand from a contents reproducing apparatus 120 of a contents sharingrequester 110. The control command transmission unit 1040 determineswhether transmission of the contents control command is allowed, byreferring to contents-sharing mode information. When thecontents-sharing mode information allows transmission of the contentscontrol command, the control command transmission unit 1040 transmitsthe contents control command to the contents reproducing apparatus 160of the contents sharer 150. On the other hand, when the contents-sharingmode information does not allow transmission of the contents controlcommand, the control command transmission unit 1040 discards thereceived contents control command.

While not restricted thereto, exemplary embodiments can be written ascomputer programs and can be implemented in general-use digitalcomputers that execute the programs using a computer readable recordingmedium. Examples of the computer readable recording medium includemagnetic storage media (e.g., ROM, floppy disks, hard disks, etc.),optical recording media (e.g., CD-ROMs, or DVDs), etc. Also, exemplaryembodiments may be written as computer programs transmitted over acomputer-readable transmission medium, such as a carrier wave, andreceived and implemented in general-use or special-purpose digitalcomputers that execute the programs.

While exemplary embodiments have been particularly shown and describedabove, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art thatvarious changes in form and details may be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present inventive concept asdefined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for providing a contents-sharing serviceperformed in a server, the method comprising: receiving a first requestmessage from a first reproducing apparatus, the request messageindicating that the first reproducing apparatus offers to share acontent with a second reproducing apparatus; transmitting the contentboth to the first reproducing apparatus and the second reproducingapparatus so that the content be shared and reproduced by the first andsecond reproducing apparatus; receiving a first control message from thefirst reproducing apparatus for controlling the reproducing of thecontent; and selectively transmitting a second control message based onthe first request message and the first control message to the secondreproducing apparatus, wherein the second control message is used by thesecond reproducing apparatus for controlling reproducing of the content.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting the contentcomprises: transmitting a notify message generated using the receivedfirst request message to the second reproducing apparatus; receiving asecond request message generated based on the notify message from thesecond reproducing apparatus requesting for the content; andtransmitting the content both to the first reproducing apparatus and thesecond reproducing apparatus in response to receiving the second requestmessage.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the notify message comprisesat least one from among information about content to be shared,reproducing duration information of the content, and information aboutthe first reproducing apparatus.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein thenotify message further comprises at least one from among information toprovide personalized services for the second reproducing apparatus andinformation to provide advertisement services.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein the first request message comprises at least one from amonginformation about the content to be shared, reproducing durationinformation of the content, information about the first reproducingapparatus, information about the second reproducing apparatus, andcontent-sharing mode information.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein thecontent-sharing mode information comprises at least one from amonginformation on control commands allowed to be shared between the firstand second reproducing apparatuses or information on control commandsnot allowed to be shared between the first and second reproducingapparatuses, and wherein the method further comprises determiningwhether the first control message is allowed control command to beshared based on the content-sharing mode information.
 7. The method ofclaim 6, wherein the second control message is transmitted to the secondreproducing apparatus when the first control message is determined to beallowed control command to be shared.
 8. A method for content sharingperformed in a first reproducing apparatus, the method comprising:transmitting a first request message to a server, indicating that thefirst reproducing apparatus offers to share a content with a secondreproducing apparatus; receiving the content, wherein the content beingtransmitting both to the first and the second reproducing apparatuses sothat the content be shared and reproduced by the first and secondreproducing apparatus; transmitting a first control message to theserver for controlling the reproducing of the content, wherein a secondcontrol message is generated at the server based on the first controlmessage and transmitted to the second reproducing apparatus forcontrolling the reproducing of the content at the second producingapparatus.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first request messagecomprises at least one from among information about the content to beshared, reproducing duration information of the content, informationabout the first reproducing apparatus, information about the secondreproducing apparatus, and content-sharing mode information.
 10. Themethod of claim 9, wherein the reproducing duration information includesreproduction start time information, and wherein the content isreproduced by the first and second reproducing apparatus atsubstantially the same time based on the reproduction start time. 11.The method of claim 9, wherein the content-sharing mode informationcomprises at least one from among information on control commandsallowed to be shared between the first and second reproducingapparatuses or information on control commands not allowed to be sharedbetween the first and second reproducing apparatuses.
 12. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the controlling of the reproducing of the content bythe second reproducing apparatus based on the second control message isperformed substantially the same time when the controlling of thereproducing of the content by the first reproducing apparatus isperformed based on the first control message.
 13. A method for contentsharing performed in a second reproducing apparatus, the methodcomprising: receiving a notify message from a server, notifying that afirst reproducing apparatus offers to share a content with the secondreproducing apparatus; receiving, subsequent to the receiving a notifymessage, the content, wherein the content being transmitted both to thefirst and second reproducing apparatuses so that the content be sharedand reproduced by the first and second reproducing apparatus; receiving,from the server, second control information for controlling thereproducing of the content, wherein the second control information isbased on first control information generated by the first reproducingapparatus.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising: transmitting,to the server, a request generated based on the notify messageindicating accepting the offer and requesting for the content, andwherein the content is received in response to transmitting the request.15. The method of claim 13, wherein the notify message including atleast one from among information about content to be shared, reproducingduration information of the content, information about the firstreproducing apparatus.
 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:reproducing the content from a point in time by using reproduction starttime information included in the reproducing duration information of thecontent, wherein the content is reproduced by the first and secondreproducing apparatus at substantially the same time based on thereproduction start time.
 17. The method of claim 13, further comprisingcontrolling the reproducing of the content based on the received secondcontrol information.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the controllingof the reproducing of the content by the second reproducing apparatusbased on the second control message is performed substantially the sametime when the controlling of the reproducing of the content by the firstreproducing apparatus is performed based on the first control message.19. A server providing contents-sharing service, the server comprising:at least one processor operable to read and operate according toinstructions within a computer program; and at least one memory operableto store at least portions of the computer program for access by theprocessor; wherein the computer program includes algorithms to cause theprocessor to implement: a reproducing apparatus interface configured toreceive a first request message from a first reproducing apparatus, therequest message indicating that the first reproducing apparatus offersto share a content with a second reproducing apparatus, receive a firstcontrol message from the first reproducing apparatus for controlling thereproducing of the content, and selectively transmit a second controlmessage based on the first request message and the first control messageto the second reproducing apparatus, wherein the second control messageis used by the second reproducing apparatus for controlling reproducingof the content; and a service interface configured to transmit thecontent both to the first reproducing apparatus and the secondreproducing apparatus so that the content be shared and reproduced bythe first and second reproducing apparatus.
 20. The server of claim 19,wherein the reproducing apparatus interface is further configured totransmit a notify message generated using the received first requestmessage to the second reproducing apparatus, and receive a secondrequest message generated based on the notify message from the secondreproducing apparatus requesting for the content, and wherein theservice interface is further configured to transmit the content both tothe first reproducing apparatus and the second reproducing apparatus inresponse to the reproducing apparatus interface's receiving the secondrequest message.
 21. The server of claim 19, wherein the notify messagecomprises at least one from among information about content to beshared, reproducing duration information of the content, and informationabout the first reproducing apparatus.
 22. The server of claim 21,wherein the notify message further comprises at least one from amonginformation to provide personalized services for the second reproducingapparatus and information to provide advertisement services.
 23. Theserver of claim 19, wherein the first request message comprises at leastone from among information about the content to be shared, reproducingduration information of the content, information about the firstreproducing apparatus, information about the second reproducingapparatus, and content-sharing mode information.
 24. The server of claim23, wherein the content-sharing mode information comprises at least onefrom among information on control commands allowed to be shared betweenthe first and second reproducing apparatuses or information on controlcommands not allowed to be shared between the first and secondreproducing apparatuses, and wherein the reproducing apparatus interfaceis further configured to determine whether the first control message isallowed control command to be shared based on the content-sharing modeinformation.
 25. The server of claim 24, wherein the second controlmessage is transmitted to the second reproducing apparatus when thefirst control message is determined to be allowed control command to beshared.
 26. A first reproducing apparatus for content sharing, the firstreproducing apparatus comprising: at least one processor operable toread and operate according to instructions within a computer program;and at least one memory operable to store at least portions of thecomputer program for access by the processor; wherein the computerprogram includes algorithms to cause the processor to implement: amessage interface configured to transmit a first request message to aserver, indicating that the first reproducing apparatus offers to sharea content with a second reproducing apparatus, and transmit a firstcontrol message to the server for controlling the reproducing of thecontent; and a service interface configured to receive the content,wherein the content being transmitting both to the first and the secondreproducing apparatuses so that the content be shared and reproduced bythe first and second reproducing apparatuses, wherein a second controlmessage is generated at the server based on the first control messageand transmitted to the second reproducing apparatus for controlling thereproducing of the content at the second producing apparatus.
 27. Thefirst reproducing apparatus of claim 26, wherein the first requestmessage comprises at least one from among information about the contentto be shared, reproducing duration information of the content,information about the first reproducing apparatus, information about thesecond reproducing apparatus, and content-sharing mode information. 28.The first reproducing apparatus of claim 27, wherein the reproducingduration information includes reproduction start time information, andwherein the content is reproduced by the first and second reproducingapparatuses at substantially the same time based on the reproductionstart time.
 29. The first reproducing apparatus of claim 27, wherein thecontent-sharing mode information comprises at least one from amonginformation on control commands allowed to be shared between the firstand second reproducing apparatuses or information on control commandsnot allowed to be shared between the first and second reproducingapparatuses.
 30. The first reproducing apparatus of claim 27, whereinthe controlling of the reproducing of the content by the secondreproducing apparatus based on the second control message is performedsubstantially the same time when the controlling of the reproducing ofthe content by the first reproducing apparatus is performed based on thefirst control message.
 31. A second reproducing apparatus for contentssharing, the second reproducing apparatus comprising: at least oneprocessor operable to read and operate according to instructions withina computer program; and at least one memory operable to store at leastportions of the computer program for access by the processor; whereinthe computer program includes algorithms to cause the processor toimplement: a message interface configured to receive a notify messagefrom a server, notifying that a first reproducing apparatus offers toshare a content with the second reproducing apparatus, and receive, fromthe server, second control information for controlling the reproducingof the content, wherein the second control information is based on firstcontrol information generated by the first reproducing apparatus; and aservice interface configured to receive, subsequent to the messageinterface's receiving a notify message, the content, wherein the contentbeing transmitted both to the first and second reproducing apparatusesso that the content be shared and reproduced by the first and secondreproducing apparatuses.
 32. The second reproducing apparatus of claim31, wherein the message interface is further configured to transmit, tothe server, a request generated based on the notify message indicatingaccepting the offer and requesting for the content, and wherein thecontent is received in response to the transmitting request from themessage interface.
 33. The second reproducing apparatus of claim 31,wherein the notify message including at least one from among informationabout content to be shared, reproducing duration information of thecontent, information about the first reproducing apparatus.
 34. Thesecond reproducing apparatus of claim 33, further comprising: acontroller configured to reproduce the content from a point in time byusing reproduction start time information included in the reproducingduration information of the content, and wherein the content isreproduced by the first and second reproducing apparatus atsubstantially the same time based on the reproduction start time. 35.The second reproducing apparatus of claim 31, further comprising acontroller configured to control the reproducing of the content based onthe received second control information.
 36. The second reproducingapparatus of claim 35, wherein the controlling of the reproducing of thecontent by the second reproducing apparatus based on the second controlmessage is performed substantially the same time when the controlling ofthe reproducing of the content by the first reproducing apparatus isperformed based on the first control message.